Catholic Migration Services

Legal name: Catholic Migration Services Inc

Overview

Mission

Catholic Migration Services is a not-for-profit legal service provider committed to promoting justice and compassion, providing free legal services and community legal education to low-income New Yorkers regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, national origin, or immigration status. The Tablet Highlights the Mission of Catholic Migration Services In a recent editorial, **_The Tablet_** reflected on the vital work of Catholic Migration Services (CMS). Grounded in the Gospel call to welcome the stranger, CMS provides free, high-quality legal assistance to low-income immigrants and their families throughout Brooklyn and Queens. The article highlights CMS’s longstanding commitment to defending the dignity of every person through immigration legal services, housing advocacy, and workers’ rights support. It also emphasizes the growing importance of trusted, ethical legal representation...

What it reported doing in 2024

In 2024, our employment, housing, and immigration units conducted 3,735 new intakes and provided community legal education to 3,225 community members through in-person, community presentations and training, online interactive presentations, and other virtual means. Immigration: our immigration unit provides a range of services, including confidential screenings for undocumented immigrants, reuniting families through family-based petitions, petitioning for asylum, and defending immigrants against deportation. It also hosts outreach events and provides know-your- rights education. Our lawyers give community presentations that reached hundreds of New York residents and informed them about changes in federal immigration policy and ways to avoid frauds and scams that target vulnerable immigrants. In 2024, our immigration unit saved low-income immigrants $220,730 in fee waivers for immigration filings, helped 227 immigrants become naturalized u.s. Citizens, defended 109 immigrants in their removal proceedings, and helped 98 young immigrants renew daca (deferred action for childhood arrivals), thereby preventing their removal from the us and enabling them to work lawfully.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
112634818
IRS 990 coverage
2018–2024
Official website data refreshed
Aug 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Headquarters
Brooklyn, NY, United States
Phone
(718) 236-3000
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Affiliation
Christianity

Official website

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 78
  • Transparency & Controls: 65
  • Accountability: 94
  • Sustainability: 52
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 74%; rating input score 74
  • Program expense ratio: 79.9%; rating input score 80
  • Fundraising efficiency: $210.05 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 92; 92nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 88.9%; rating input score 89; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 8%; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.07; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.39; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 11.6%; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 10.1% per year; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 8.3% per year; rating input score 100; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 26.5% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 3 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 2 operating locations identified
  • Where the money goes: 74% of revenue deployed · 79.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 16 of 18 board members independent · 7 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $4.7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $151K · 23 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 32 of 32 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 6 annual filings from 2018 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 5 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.

Leadership & pay

23 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • MAGDALENA BARBOSA ESQ (DIRECTOR OF LEGAL SERVICES): $150,640 total reported compensation
  • JOHNATHAN COHEN (MANAGING ATTORNEY): $142,388 total reported compensation
  • RALUCA ONCIOIU (MANAGING ATTORNEY): $142,388 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: FY2024.